Skyway Recommended December 30th to January 5th

This week: Six Things to Expect in IT in 2014; Canada’s Ugly Telecom War; NSA’s Backdoor Exposed: Planting Spyware Before delivery

Each Monday we’ll pass on links to articles we thought were well worth reading from the previous week, for those who live where we do (British Columbia, Canada), work like we do (high speed business internet), and think about things we do (internet trends, internet privacy, internet censorship, cutting-edge technology, etc.). If you don’t want to wait ’til Monday, we usually tweet and link to these as we come across them…

IT World Canada | Six Things to Expect in the IT World in 2014

Readers often get lured into reading predictions for the New Year, on the premise that a new year brings a new start. When a new year begins, perhaps corporations reset business plans, revise spending budgets, or review their progress of 2013. Based on 2013’s results, companies then reset, revise, and re-start, where possible. There are a number of big disappointments in 2013 that could set the stage for a surprise rebound in 2014. Read More…

Financial Post | How Canada’s telecom war with the Federal Government turned ugly

Last summer a simmering dispute over obscure regulations boiled over into all-out war as the country’s cellphone titans took on the federal government and its efforts to entice a U.S. giant north. The dialogue got heated as the three largest wireless carriers – ostensible rivals – joined forces to target Ottawa’s policy on the industry. They waged a co-ordinated public relations campaign with troops of executives touring newsrooms to get the message out. Read More…

GigaOm | NSA’s backdoor catalog exposed: Targets include Juniper, Cisco, Samsung, Huawei

Germany’s Der Spiegel has published details of some of the techniques used by the NSA’s Tailored Access Operations unit, which allows the agency to perform targeted, aggressive hacking. Read More…

IT World Canada | U.S. can plant spyware in IT equipment before delivery: Report

Ever wonder why the IT components you order sometimes take an extra day to get to your organization? Maybe a spy agency has “improved” it.
That’s the implication in a news story from Germany’s Der Spiegel, which reported Sunday that a unit within the U.S. National Security Agency will sometimes intercept delivery of an electronic device and install spyware. Read More…